Songwriter accuses composer of plagiarism

MUMBAI: A songwriter moved Dindoshi court on Friday, praying for injunction to delete the song Character dheela from the Salman Khan-starrer Ready. The writer said that composer Pritam Chakraborty has used the song, which was registered in his name with the film writers' association, without taking his permission.
Mohameed Turkish Azam said, "Pritam liked my song very much and wanted to use it in his film.We did keep in touch and he kept promising that he would use it in one of his films. But I was shocked to see the song in Ready when the promos came out in April. I did try calling him but there was no response. Since there was no response from Pritam and the producers, I decided to move court.''
Pritam denied the allegations. He said, "I have never met him. Besides, I am not the lyricist of the film; it has been written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The first four lines of the song, which he claims are written by him, are colloquially-used words and one cannot have a copyright on it. If the writer has a problem, he should approach the music company and the film producers and not drag me into it." I am someone who has given a chance to so many newcomers. Had he come to me with the song, I would've taken it."
The hearing will take place on Monday. Azam's lawyer Neeraj Gupta said, `The hearing of our case will take place on Monday and we have prayed to the court for deletion of the song from the film and permanent injunction on playing of the song for publicity of the film.
"We will be asking for compensation as the song has already been exploited by the producers for promotion of the film."
Producer Bhushan Kumar said, "We heard about 40 songs from Bhattacharya and chose this song. If he (Azam) had given a public notice in a trade paper, one could have given this complaint a second thought."
While Imitiaz Husain of the Film Writers Association did confirm that the complaint has been registered with them but will not be taking any action as the Azam has moved the court, producer Bhushan Kumar is not really worried. He said, " We heard about 40 songs from Amitabh Bhattacharya and chose this song. First of all I don't believe that registering the song with the association makes it his property he should've declared it through a public notice in a trade paper one could've given this complain a second thought. ''